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The hatch consisted of three parts: a removable inner hatch, which stayed inside the cabin a hinged outer hatch, which was part of the spacecraft’s heat shield and an outer hatch cover, which was part of the boost protective cover enveloping the entire Command Module to protect it from aerodynamic heating during launch, and from launch escape rocket exhaust in the event of a launch abort. Three minutes after the count was resumed, the hatch installation was started. The accident investigation found this odor not to be related to the fire. No cause of the odor could be found, and the countdown was resumed at 2:42 pm. Grissom immediately noticed a strange odor in the air circulating through his suit which he compared to “sour buttermilk”, and the simulated countdown was held at 1:20 pm, while air samples were taken. The test was considered non-hazardous because neither the launch vehicle nor the spacecraft was loaded with fuel or cryogenics, and all pyrotechnic systems (explosive bolts) were disabledĪt 1:00 pm EST (1800 GMT) on January 27, first Grissom, then Chaffee, and White entered the Command Module fully pressure-suited, and were strapped into their seats and hooked up to the spacecraft’s oxygen and communication systems. Passing this test was essential to making the February 21 launch date. The launch simulation on January 27, 1967, on pad 34, was a “plugs-out” test to determine whether the spacecraft would operate nominally on (simulated) internal power while detached from all cables and umbilicals. It would take more than 18 months, and extensive redesigns, before NASA sent more men into space. The three men inside perished despite the best efforts of the ground crew. The Apollo program changed forever, when a flash fire swept through the Apollo 1 command module during a launch rehearsal test.
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astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died in a fire aboard the Apollo 1 spacecraft during a launch simulation at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.